A Teenage Fairytale
by the waffle
Summary: Ino Yamanaka has just graduated from the Fairy Academy, and is on her first mission. She is to look after Sakura Haruno, and figures it'll be simple. However, she doesn't count on falling in love. And what if Shikamaru figures out her secret? [ShikaIno]
1. Chapter 1

AN: WHOMG, it's been so long since I've properly written something! So, to start me off again, I come bearing a new fic. It's kind of strange, and not _very_ ShikaIno-y at the beginning, but I hope you stick with me. I quite like this, even though it's strange, so I hope you like it too.

**Disclaimer: I do not claim to own any part of Naruto, only this storyline (and even THAT'S not really mine)**

So, to tell you something about this, the original premise is from a series of graphic novels called _Mysti._ I urge you all to go buy them, as they're really good (you might not be able to buy them in America, though, sorry). It will differ in later chapters, though. Probably. So please, enjoy.

* * *

I couldn't believe we were going to be late _again._ And of all days! I fully blamed Tenten. She got so caught up in watching some humans that she forgot the time, and was making us late to my graduation ceremony! Tsunade, Empress Absolute of Fairies, was going to be there! The Ancient Ones might even have turned up, as they always say they will, though they never actually do.

We rushed along, trying to get to the Selection Lagoon - where we would be allotted our charges after receiving our Scrolls - while maintaining a reasonable appearance. I'm sorry to say that we failed miserably. Tenten's buns were lopsided, her Dust Belt was askew, and her dress rumpled and muddy. I wasn't much better: the ties on one of my slippers was undone, my hair was tangled and sticking to my lips, my eyes were all smudged (I _knew _the human make-up was a bad idea), and my gown was practically falling off my shoulders. Fortunately, no one noticed our late arrival, except Chouji, and all he did was wink at me. I nodded gratefully to him.

Just as I sat down, Tsunade called out, "Ino Yamanaka!" I stood up, and hastily smoothed out my dress, before gracefully walking over to where Tsunade stood, holding out my Scroll. Throwing me a small smile, she turned to the lagoon, and the image of a teenage girl appeared. I sighed in relief. At least it wasn't some stinky, old man. The girl was very pretty, although unusual by human standards. She had short, light pink hair, bright green eyes that somewhat reminded me of mermaids, and a large forehead. Above the image appeared the words _Sakura Haruno_.

* * *

After the ceremony Tenten and I went to my home. She was staying there for a while, as my father was away on a mission, and I didn't want to be alone. I was angry that he couldn't make it to my graduation from the Academy, but I knew it couldn't be helped; the Lost Fay were planning something, and they needed to be watched. The Lost Fay were a very private nation, and very paranoid, so only the very best could break through their defences. I was very proud that my father was one of those few.

"So," Tenten said, "who is your new charge?" I fell back onto my bed. "Sakura Haruno. Pink hair. Isn't that strange on a human?" Tenten sat down next to me, frowning. I pushed myself up, and turned to look at my friend. "What's wrong?" Tenten hummed. "You said _Haruno_, right? And _pink_ hair?" Nodding slowly, I wondered what could possibly be wrong already. Tenten grinned. "I know her!" Now it was my turn to frown. "_Know _her?" I queried, pursing my lips, "How can you _possibly_ know her?"

"Well, she's a friend of Hinata, my charge. She knows me too, but as a human, obviously. She thinks I'm the daughter of one of the Hyuuga's clients. Isn't that strange, though? That we all know each other? That we can all be friends?"

"Friends? She might not even see me, y'know. And even if she does, she might hate me, or something." Tenten scoffed. "She'll see you, and she won't hate you. Stop being so pessimistic! Everything'll be fine. You should get to sleep, though. Long day ahead of you."

* * *

Hesitantly I flew up to Sakura's open window. She was still asleep, so I went inside and had a look around her room. It was relatively large, but filled with lots of clutter, which made it seem small. There were quite a few bookcases, all filled, and a desk with books, a laptop, and sheets of paper scattered over it. Beside the bed was a tower of yet more books that threatened to topple over. I wondered when she had time to read them all.

While I waited for her to wake up I sat on her bedside cabinet next to an alarm clock with flashing red numbers. It was 9:00 AM; she should've been up already. The day was wasting away! I was just wondering whether to wake her up myself before a loud shrieking sound emitted from the alarm clock. The sound almost blasted me away, but all it did to Sakura was make her groan, and roll over to slap it quiet. "I can't believe mom set my alarm on a _Saturday!_" She sat up, eyes bleary with sleep. I stood up, and began to introduce myself. "Hello Sakura. I'm--" Swivelling, she tried to see where the voice was coming from. Yes! She could hear me. It was easier to look after your charge if they could see and hear you. Since Sakura wasn't looking anywhere near my direction, I flew up to her, so that when she turned again, she would see me. Well, she did see me, but then she screeched like a banshee (it was _painful_) and swiped me out of the air. I slammed against the wall and fell forward onto her bed. Grabbing her bedside lamp and holding it as if she intended to hit me, she said, "Jesus, who are -- no, _what the hell_ are you? Answer me!"

"Don't worry," I ground out, "I fully intend to answer you as soon as the dizziness goes away. You hit _hard_. What did you do that for?"

Sakura lowered her arms, and looking somewhat apologetic, said, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, but you surprised me, and then – hey, no, wait! What am _I _apologising for? Don't you try to trick me! I'm telling you, it won't work. Now tell me what you're doing in my room!"

"Ugh…" I moaned, trying to fight the onslaught of wooziness. "Um, are you okay? I didn't hit you _that_ hard." She said, placing the lamp back on the table, deciding that I was no threat in that state. I sat up, feeling slightly better. "Maybe you don't hit that hard for someone your size, but for someone three inches tall…well, that's completely different, you know."

"I guess." The pink haired girl sat down, and prodded me. I crossed my arms and scowled. "Don't do that." Sakura grinned and prodded me again. Suddenly I flew up, but crashed back down due to dizziness. "I said don't, or I'll cast a spell on you." I opened my phial of Gold Dust threateningly. Gold Dust is the most useful of all Dust. It is the easiest to collect, as it is taken from children's dreams, and it is the one used for most fairy magic. Sakura looked curiously at the glass phial filled with shimmering particles. "What does it do? And you still haven't told me who you are, by the way."

"I am Ino Yamanaka, daughter of the illustrious warrior Inoichi Yamanaka. And this is Gold Dust. It is used for fairy magic."

"So you're a _fairy_?" Her eyes shone. I liked the way she said _fairy._ Like it was something special, and amazing. "Yes, I am. And you know Tenten? Hinata's friend?"

"She's one too?" The pink haired girl breathed. I nodded. "I knew there was something strange about her!" she continued, "This is so cool! I have my own personal fairy to do everything for me!"

"Uh, no. I'm not here to do your chores or your homework. You're my charge, so yes, I guess I am your 'own personal fairy', but I'm just here to guide you, and help you."

"But doing my chores and my homework _is _helping me!"

"Not that sort of help. Guiding you through life, and that sort of thing."

"Well, that sucks."

"That's the way it is. I don't think there's anything important I need to tell you right now…"

She tipped her head to the side. "Hey, I just thought of something."

"Yes?"

"Can you turn into a human like Tenten, too?"

I let out a whoosh of air. "We don't turn into humans. We just look like one. And yes, all fairies can. So I can meet all your friends and everything as your friend Ino. You can come up with the cover story."

"Hm. How about we say that you live in the posh part of town and that I met you on holiday? Hey, we can tell Hinata the truth, though, right?"

"That'll do. Of course we can. You can tell anyone who has a fairy looking after them. But if you try telling anyone who doesn't have a fairy, you'll lose your voice for three days. It's old fairy magic. Just like if someone says 'I don't believe in fairies' a fairy falls from the sky."

"Really?"

"Yes, I'll tell you the story another time. Now will I turn into a human so we can go and meet your friends?" Sakura nodded vigorously. I swung my arm around me, sprinkling Gold Dust around my body, while imagining myself looking as a human, and what clothes I would be wearing. A fog surrounded me and when I stepped out, looking like a human, Sakura said, "Wow, you're so pretty. It's not fair."

"What?" I said, looking down at myself. I resembled myself as a fairy, but larger, without wings, and wearing human clothing. I was only average looking, by fairy standards. Humans have a strange sense of beauty.

Sakura went and got dressed, then she called Hinata to tell her about me in private, and then we set off to meet all her other friends at the mall.

* * *

AN: Did you like it? I sincerely hope you did. And if you did (even if you didn't) please review! Reviews sustain me, and will help me write more. I promise. I would really like to hear your thoughts and opinions, and even your ideas for later chapters. Thanks. So, please review!


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Oh. My. God. I _finallyfinallyfinally_ updated something! I know it's been an absolutely _ridiculous_ amount of time since I last updated, and it's almost (almost!) inexcusable. But, if you've had the kind of time I've been having (not that any of you really care, but whatever), you would all _completely_ understand. The only way I've been able to get the time to update this is because I'm sick, and I'm not allowed to do anything else. Also, I know that it's a relatively short chapter, considering the update time, but the next update will (I swear on my life) be much quicker! Maybe not as quick as some of you hope, but no more than a month, tops. If it's any longer, I give you all permission to shoot me in the face.

Now, on with the story!

Sakura plagued me with questions all throughout the journey. "What's it like? Being a fairy, I mean. Is it fun?" And others like that. I told her over and over again that it wasn't especially fun, it was hard work, but she wouldn't listen. The silly girl thought that since fairies could do magic, they could just conjure up anything, and didn't have any work to do at all! I longed to tell her about the Lost Fay, the pixies, the dwarves, and leprechauns, and mermaids, and all the other magical creatures, and how we fairies were the peace keepers. How, if not for us, there would be perpetual war, with hundreds dying everyday. But I couldn't. I would be in _serious_ trouble if I did. Every fairy was instructed from a very early age to make sure humans knew next to nothing about magical affairs, the magical world, and people that kept them safe; the only humans we were allowed to show ourselves to (in fairy form, anyway) were our charges, and others with fairy guardians. Of course, this was helped by the fact that the only people who could see us in fairy form were those who believed in fairies, and that number was very few.

Soon the bus ride was over, and Sakura ceased her questions as we approached Konoha Shopping Centre. Tenten was already there, with the girl I assumed was Hinata. She was standing in a sort of hunched manner, so I couldn't really tell her height, and she was looking at the ground, so I couldn't make out her face, either. Her long, straight, dark-purplish coloured hair obscured her face even more. Even if Tenten hadn't told me that Hinata was excruciatingly shy, I would've known anyway from her stance. Tenten laid a hand on her arm, and pointed to us as we drew closer. "Hey, Ino," said Tenten, "Hi, Sakura." Tenten looked over at me meaningfully. "What did I tell you?"

"Alright, fine then. You were right, yaddayaddayadda."

"Right about what?" Sakura looked at us curiously. "Nothing!" Tenten and I chorused. Tenten turned to Hinata to introduce me to her. "Hinata, this is the girl I've been telling you about. My best friend _back home_." The shy girl looked up, showing her pretty features (I didn't understand why she wanted to hide them) and stuttered, "H-h-hello, Ino."

"Hi! You must be Hinata. Tenten's told me a lot about you. It's nice to meet you." I smiled at her, and she shyly smiled back. Sakura turned to her and asked, "So, who's coming today?"

"U-um…Neji, Sasuke, Kiba, Shikamaru, and," her voice got very small here, "N-naruto." Hinata blushed a deep red. I wondered to myself what could have made her go like that. "Excellent!" said Sakura with a grin. "There's Naruto for Hinata" Hinata squeaked, "Neji for you, Tenten, Sasuke for me, and who do you think would be better for Ino: Shikamaru or Kiba?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked. Why was Sakura dividing up the boys like that? I really did not understand humans at times. Sakura turned to me with a truly frightening grin on her face. "Well, you need a guy, obviously, and it's got to be either Kiba or Shikamaru. The only other boy would be Sai and he's just…" Sakura trailed off and shuddered violently. "Sai?" I questioned. I didn't know how common a name Sai was with humans, but I only knew one Sai, and he was the son of the leader of the Lost Fay… I would have to keep an eye on him. The Lost Fay were not supposed to come to the human world and interact with humans, but why would they listen to the Council? And if they _were_ here, what for? "Yeah, Sai." Sakura said, jolting me out of my reverie. "He's really creepy…I don't know how to explain it, but he just feels…_wrong_, I suppose. It's good that he's not coming today."

I bit my lip. Something did not feel right. Most humans can't feel the auras of disgraced people like the Lost Fay, but if Sakura could see fairies, there was a slim chance she might. I would have to tell my father about this.

Tenten gave me a _look_, then, and asked, "What's up, Ino?" I shook my head and signalled for her to be quiet. Sakura and Hinata couldn't know of this. Sakura narrowed her eyes and looked suspiciously between me and Tenten. Fortunately, her phone rang at that moment. "Hello?" she said, clearly irritated. She obviously wanted to know what was going on, but she _couldn't_ know. I thought this assignment would be fairly easy, but Sakura was too perceptive. I would have to watch my tongue.

Sakura snapped the phone closed and told us that that was Naruto, and the boys would be here in ten minutes. We decided that while we were waiting, we would go look around the shops a little, instead of hanging around outside.

* * *

Nearly half an hour later, I was dragged back to the front entrance. It took the combined efforts of all three of them to prise me away from Watermelon, a human clothes shop that had some of the prettiest things I'd ever seen in it. There was a beautiful sea-blue gown that was so _sparkly!_ I felt that I _must_ obtain it, that very second. It wasn't my fault; fairies generally are drawn to things that glitter. My father explained it to me once: the magic Dust that fairies use sparkle, and so fairies are magically drawn to _anything_ that remotely shimmers. However, I didn't care at that moment _why_ I felt an irresistible pull, I just _did._

Finally, they got me outside, where I couldn't see the dress anymore. As soon as it was out of my sight I stopped feeling so much like I needed it.

Sakura and Hinata let go to get their breath back (fairies, though it might not seem like it, are rather strong), and Tenten just shook her head ruefully at me. I made a helpless face at her, and whispered, "Why weren't you affected?"

Tenten grinned. "You get used to it, after a while. After all, lots of things sparkle in the human world and you can't go chasing after them all. Your cover would be blown." And I supposed it would. I then turned to asked Sakura and Hinata if they were alright, only to see Hinata go bright red again. Really, what was wrong with that girl? Was it some human illness that I did not know about? I saw Sakura's face then, and her smile was ecstatic. I looked over to see a group of boys staring at us open-mouthed. The look on their faces was hilarious. I couldn't control myself, and felt a laugh bubbling up. It escaped, followed quickly by others. I tried to stop, especially at the look of alarm now pasted on the boy's faces, but I couldn't. Tenten began to laugh as well, as a result of mine, but still controlled herself enough to surreptitiously sprinkle some Gold Dust to calm us down. Finally, the uncontrollable laughter died down, and Tenten and I straightened up with only the odd giggle bursting out.

Once we had calmed down, Sakura began to introduce me to the boys. "Everyone, this is Ino. The girl I met on holiday, remember?" Sakura winked at me while the boys looked confused as she said this. "You _do_ remember, right?" They nodded uneasily at this, not wanting to incur Sakura's wrath. "Good. Ino, this is Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba, Neji, and Shikamaru." As she pointed at the last boy, a lazy looking thing wearing scruffy clothes, a feeling washed over me, and I just _knew_ that this was who I was going to marry.

Sakura looked at me in alarm as waves of pink sparkles erupted from me. Tenten smirked, and Hinata just looked nervous. The boys never noticed a thing, until Sakura and Tenten whisked me off to the bathroom, calling over their shoulders, "Be back in a minute!" Hinata followed quietly. I think she knew what was going on, as this must have happened to Tenten, when she first saw Neji.

When we got to the bathroom Sakura rounded on me, "_What_ was that?"

I was still reeling from the rush of feeling I got from seeing Shikamaru, so Tenten began to explain. "Fairies know, as soon as they see the person, who they are going to marry. That's the basics of it, anyway. It's slightly different when humans are involved, because they are far more unpredictable, but the same principle applies. The same thing happened to me when I first saw Neji. Remember, Hinata?" she turned to the shy girl, "and you had to say that the pink sparkles were from an art project you were doing."

Hinata nodded. Sakura looked sceptical. "So you know immediately who you're going to marry?"

I finally recovered from the rush, "Yes. It's another bit of old fairy magic."

"So…you're in love with Shikamaru then?"

A silly smile appeared on my face after hearing his name again. Sakura raised an eyebrow, "I guess that answers that then." Turning to Tenten, she asked," She's not going to be like this all the time, is she?"

Tenten was still smirking, "No, it'll wear off in a couple of minutes; it's just the initial feeling. It's like the first time you use White Dust." Seeing Sakura's blank stare, she said, "…Right. You won't get that. Never mind."

"Well, we can't stay in here all day. C'mon."

We left the bathroom, and walked back over to the boys. "Heh heh, sorry about that. Urgent girl talk," explained Sakura.

Kiba held up his hands in a 'stop' gesture. "Dude, we don't wanna know."

"Don't want to know what?" asked a boy coming up behind Kiba, who jumped about a foot in the air. "Hey, I don't remember anyone saying we were hanging out today."

Sakura shuddered, Tenten grimaced and I frowned. I knew that voice from somewhere… The boy stepped forward, and looked straight at me. "Oh. Hello, Ino."

Sai.

AN: Uh-oh. What's Sai doing there?

Anyway, there's the first bit of ShikaIno, and the first hint of...drama?

Well, I hope you liked this chapter, despite everything, and if you did, could you please review? Thanks.


End file.
